What am I missing? Screenshots show icons placed above the post (float right, like with Digg Digg and many others), but I don't see that option anywhere in the menu. Does it need to be done with manual coding? Please say no.

Hi,
Sharethis plugin adds buttons at the bottom of each post.
In order to add sharethis buttons to top of each post, you'll need to add the buttons manually.
Here are the steps:

Sharethis script and span tags go on the page where you want the buttons to appear and they also determine what kind of button appears as well as what URL and title it shares. You will have to put 'script tags' in your Main index template(index.php) and 'span tags ' in Single Post template(single.php).

You can change the class of the span to determine the button that appears. For example class=""st_twitter"" will make a twitter icon and class=""st_email_vcount"" will make a email vertical counter button.

However, adding code in index.php and single.php will not display sharethis buttons on the blog page but will show buttons whenever an individual post is opened.
If you wish to display sharethis buttons on the blog page ,you will have to put 'span tags' in (loop.php).

In loop.php,
1. put span tags just above the line "<div class="entry-utility">" to display buttons at the end of each post on the blog page.